Funship Island

Diane Clarkson | September 21, 2007, 12:28 PM

Question: Can rich media inspire someone to consider a purchase they had previously held limited interest in?

Answer: Yes.

How do I know this? Funship Island.

Funship Island is Carnival Cruises' virtual cruise experience where you can tour the ship, swim with dolphins and hit the water slide.

In some ways, the site is the uber-brochure, offering guided tours that will assist travelers by showing what the ship, facilities and room types look like.

But it goes further than simply a tour. The microsite extends the consumer experience by offering mobile phone ring tones, iPod music, a screen saver - even instructions on how to make a rabbit out of a towel.

Part of the site's emotional appeal is the vacation oriented content. A fruity cocktail and description of spa services were a lovely distraction for my imagination. At the same time, there is an emotional appeal simply because the website is fun and surprising.

In a report we published earlier this summer called "Tactics and Trends Among Travel Industry Advertisers", we found that 50 percent of online travel marketers planned to use rich media in the upcoming year. If they want to see how to do it well, they should go aboard Funship Island.

I enjoyed the journey. I can no longer say "I'm not a cruise person". I may be. And now I must go and learn about how to make a Towel Animal Rabbit.